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Whole  No.   1  Series  1,   No.   I 

HARVARD  MONOGRAPHS  IN  EDUCATION 


A   COMPARISON   OF 

THE   INTELLIGENCE  AND  TRAINING 

OF  SCHOOL  CHILDREN 

IN  A  MASSACHUSETTS  TOWN 


BY 

EDWIN  A.  SHAW 

AND 

EDWARD  A.  LINGOLiN 

PSYCHO-EDUCATIONAL  CLINIC,  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 


Series  1    No.  1 
STUDIES  IN   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

AND 

EDUCATIONAL  MEASUREMENT 

Edited  by 
WALTER   F.  DEARBORN 


MAY,   1922 


Published  by 

THE  GRADUATE  SCHOOL  OF   EDUCATION 

HARVARD  UNIVERSITY,    CAMBRIDGE,  MASS. 


HARVARD  MONOGRAPHS  IN   EDUGATIOxN 

SEEIES  I 

Stiidi  Uicatioual  Psychology  and  Educational  Measurement 

Manuscripts  for  Series  I  should  be  addressed  to  Professor  Walter  F.  .Dear- 
born, Psycho-Educational  Clinic,  Palfrey  House,  Oxford  Street,  Cambridge  38,  Maes. 

Eeinittnnees  should  be  made  by  cheek  or  money  order  to  The  Graduate  School 
of  Education,  Harvard  University,  Cambridge  38,  Mass. 

Scries  I  of  the  Harvard  Monographs  in  Education  has  been  established  for 
publishing  the  results  of  statistical  and  experimental  studies  and  of  educational  tests 
in  the  general  fields  of  educational  T<v..i,,,i.-,.rv  -m,!  .>-]ucntioiial  incasuronient. 

The  numbers  are  as  follows: 

1 .  A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of  School  Children  in  a 
Massachusetts  Town.,  E.  A.  Sp4W;jan^  E.  A.  Lincoln. 

Postage  prepaid,  50  cents. 

2.  pi9  )Ma*^ng  System,  9f->iek.QelJeg^  Enjt?fneQrExQaw?^^  L. 
•  TlHOMAS  HofKrNs;                                ■      M   .     'p6stkg^  prepaia,  40  cents. 

3.  Stanaard  Educatioiuil  Tcl.,  ,,.  .lie  Elementary  t—'-"—  Schools  in  Mis- 
souri, i  WAiTEk  S\i  BskmoAii/  Edwakp'  A.i  iJii/co  i  )win  A.  Shaw. 

^'  ,  .x'paid,  60  cents. 


Whole  No.  1  Series  1,  No.  1 

HARVARD  MONOGRAPHS  IN   EDUCATION 


A  COMPARISON  OF 

THE   INTELLIGENCE  AND  TRAINING 

OF  SCHOOL  CHILDREN 

IN  A  MASSACHUSETTS  TOWN 


BY 

EDWIN  A.  SHAW 

AND 

EDWARD  A.  LINCOLN 

PSYCHO-EDUCATIONAL  CLINIC,  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 


Series  1    No.  1 
STUDIES  IN  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

AND 

EDUCATIONAL  MEASUREMENT 

Edited  by 
WALTER   F.  DEARBORN 


Alau-v.e.'c  «»\Vj^.  JCk^-Cl  a^ViSprT^i  a^ 

FROM  GRADUATE  SCHOOL  OF  EDUCATION 
HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 

MAY,  1922 


Published  by 

THE  GRADUATE   SCHOOL  OF  EDUCATION 

HARVARD  UNIVERSITY,   CAMBRIDGE,  MASS. 


COPYRIGHT  1922 

By  Waltek  F.  Dearboen 


INTRODUCTION 

Most  of  the  previously  published  School  Surveys  have  dealt  with 
the  schools  of  a  rather  large  community.  This  fact  has  undoubtedly 
led  those  interested  in  the  schools  of  the  smaller  towns  to  feel  that 
surveys  were  not  practicable  or  valuable  for  any  but  the  large  systems 
with  thousands  of  pupils,  hundreds  of  teachers,  a  considerable  invest- 
ment in  school  property,  and  plenty  of  money  to  meet  the  expenses  of 
such  investigations.  This  report  is  published  in  the  hope  that  it  will 
show  the  possibilities  of  the  survey  on  a  small  scale.  The  school  "sys- 
tem" with  which  the  report  deals  consisted  of  only  two  schools,  with 
scarcely  more  than  200  pupils,  and  less  than  20  teachers.  In  spite  of 
these  small  numbers  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  survey  was  neces- 
sarily limited  in  its  scope,  it  is  the  conviction  of  practically  everyone 
concerned  that  the  results  have  been  of  considerable  value  in  improv- 
ing the  efficiency  of  the  schools.  The  cost  was  little  more  than  a  dollar 
a  pupil. 

It  is  only  fair  to  state  that  the  community  derived  great  advan- 
tages from  the  fact  that  the  testing  was  done,  papers  were  corrected, 
and  the  results  were  worked  up  as  laboratory  assignments  of  classes  in 
Educational  Measurement  under  the  direction  of  the  writers.  This  re- 
lieved the  teachers  of  all  work,  and  also  materially  cut  down  the  finan- 
cial outlay  necessary.  However,  it  must  be  held  in  mind  that  the  work 
could  have  been  done  by  the  regular  teachers  under  the  direction  of 
the  superintendent  or  some  other  leader  who  had  given  some  time  to 
the  systematic  study  of  Educational  Measurement  under  a  competent 
instructor.  In  such  circumstances  the  cost  would  be  even  lower  than 
it  was  in  the  present  instance. 

Just  as  Part  I  of  this  report  was  ready  for  the  press  there  came 
an  invitation  to  repeat  the  survey.  Some  reorganization  had  taken 
place  as  the  result  of  the  findings  which  had  been  reported,  and  the 
School  Board  was  desirous  of  learning  the  result  of  these  changes.  It 
was  considered  worth  while  to  delay  this  report  pending  the  prepara- 
tion of  Part  II,  in  order  that  the  value  of  repeated  measurements  might 
be  shown.  The  delay  seems  to  have  been  justified,  for  Part  II  shows 
not  only  some  changes  which  have  come  about  as  a  result  of  the  first 
survey,  but  also  points  out  some  new  work  which  needs  to  be  done  in 
the  schools. 

The  two  reports  are  printed  exactly  as  they  were  sent  to  the 
School  Board,  with  the  exception  that  the  class  lists  containing  each 

iii 


ivil75811 


pupil's  record  in  the  tests  are  omitted.  A  sample  of  them  is  shown  in 
the  appendix.  The  discussion,  of  course,  has  been  made  as  non-tech- 
nical as  possible,  since  the  reports  were  intended  primarily  for  the  lay- 
reader.  The  expert  in  educational  measurement  or  the  executive  in 
a  large  school  system  will  perhaps  find  little  to  interest  him  in  this  re- 
port. For  those,  however,  who  have  felt  that  the  paucity  of  pupils 
and  the  stringency  of  finances  must  deprive  the  small  school  system  of 
the  advantages  of  educational  measurement  we  trust  it  may  prove  an 
inspiration  and  a  guide. 

The  authors  wish  to  express  their  deep  appreciation  of  the  earnest 
and  painstaking  labor  of  their  students  in  the  preliminary  work  on 
which  this  report  is  based.  They  also  acknowledge  their  indebtedness 
to  Dr.  Walter  F.  Dearborn  for  his  helpful  criticism  in  every  phase  of 
their  undertaking. 

Edwin  A.  Shaw. 
Edward  A.  Lincoln. 
Psycho-Educational  Clinic. 
Habvard  University. 


IV 


REPORT  ON  THE  RESULTS  OF  TESTING 

IN   THE 

WAYLAND  AND  COCHITUATE  SCHOOLS 

PART  I— THE    SURVEY  OF  1921 

PURPOSE  OF  THE  REPORT 

It  is  the  purpose  of  any  school  survey,  whatever  may  be  its  nature 
and  its  scope,  to  discover  and  place  at  the  disposal  of  all  those  vitally 
interested  in  any  phase  of  the  educational  aeti\^ties  of  the  community 
definite  facts  concerning  the  work  which  is  going  on  in  the  schools. 
To  censure  or  to  praise  is  not  a  primary  function  of  the  survey;  its 
first  and  most  important  object  must  be  to  determine  with  absolute 
impartiality  and  scientific  accuracy  the  existing  conditions  in  the 
school  or  school  system.  Constructive  criticism  by  disinterested  out- 
siders is,  of  course,  valuable  and  necessary,  but  teachers  and  adminis- 
trative officers,  because  they  know  in  greater  detail  their  schools  and 
the  community  are,  theoretically,  at  least,  better  able  to  make  fiinal 
decisions  concerning  the  activities  of  the  schools.  This  report,  then, 
will  place  before  the  teachers,  superintendent,  school  board,  and  citi- 
zens of  the  town  certain  facts  about  the  pupils  and  the  work  of  the 
schools  with  which  they  are  so  vitally  concerned.  Such  comment  and 
criticism  will  be  made  as,  in  the  judgment  of  the  surveyors,  will  con- 
tribute to  the  improvement  of  the  educational  opportunity  offered  at 
present  by  these  schools. 

HOW  THE  SCHOOL  WORK  WAS  MEASURED 

All  modern  school  surveys  make  use  of  the  standard  tests  in  school 
subjects.  As  wiU  be  seen  from  the  descriptions  which  appear  later  in 
the  report,  the  standard  tests  are  not  in  any  great  measure  different 
from  the  ordinary  school  examinations  which  are  more  or  less  familiar 
to  everyone  who  has  ever  attended  school.  The  difference  arises  from 
the  fact  that  the  standard  tests  are  scientifically  constructed  after  long 
study  and  experimentation,  and  they  have  been  given  to  many  thous- 
ands of  children  all  over  the  country,  so  that  the  average  or  standard 
performance  in  a  room,  grade,  school,  or  whole  system  is  pretty  well 
known.  Thus  it  is  possible  by  the  use  of  standard  tests  to  compare  the 
work  of  the  various  units  of  a  school  system,  and  also  to  compare  the 
work  done  in  the  system  with  that  done  in  any  other  where  the  same 


'2 ' A' Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 

tests  have  been  used.     For  those  reasons  standard  tests  were  used  in 
the  survey  of  the  Wayland  and  Cochituate  schools. 


WHAT  TESTS  WERE  USED 

Although  standard  tests  have  been  devised  in  a  large  number  of  the 
subjects  commonly  taught  in  the  schools,  not  all  of  them  could  be  used 
in  this  survey.  Because  of  the  limitations,  tests  were  given  in  only 
the  fundamental  subjects;  namely,  Reading,  "Writing  and  Arithmetic. 
To  these  was  added  an  intelligence  test  for  the  purpose  of  determining 
to  some  extent  the  character  of  the  raw  materials  with  which  the 
various  units  of  the  school  system  have  to  work.  Obviously,  more  is  to 
be  expected  of  a  class  composed  of  pupils  of  superior  intelligence  than 
from  thei  average  class,  and  inferior  pupils  cannot  be  expected  to  do  as 
well  as  the  average. 

HOW  THE  TESTS  WERE  GIVEN 

All  the  testing  was  done  by  examiners  who  had  been  well  trained 
for  the  work  at  the  Psycho-Educational  Clinic,  of  the  Harvard  Grad- 
uate School  of  Education.  Although  the  standard  tests  are  for  the 
most  part  so  devised  that  they  can  be  given  by  the  average  class-room 
teacher,  there  is  a  technique  of  testing  which  is  acquired  only  after 
considerable  practice  in  the  field,  and  it  is,  therefore,  always  desirable 
to  have  survey  work  done  by  trained  examiners,  as  in  the  present  in- 
stance. 

CORRECTION  OF  PAPERS 

The  papers  were  all  corrected  by  the  clerks  at  the  Psycho-Educa- 
tional Clinic.  Here,  also,  much  of  the  work  can  be  done  by  the  teacher, 
but  it  is  more  efficiently  and  economically  done  by  trained  experts. 
Moreover,  when  comparisons  are  to  be  made,  it  is  an  advantage  to  have 
the  work  done  as  far  as  possible  by  disinterested  and  impartial  out- 
siders. 

PRESENTATION  OF  RESULTS 

All  the  results  are  presented  in  tabular  form.  The  first  set  of 
tables  presents  the  results  of  the  tests  by  grade  and  school,  and  each 
table  shows  a  distribution  of  all  the  marks  obtained  by  the  pupils  of 
each  grade,  together  with  the  grade  median  score.  The  Median  rather 
than  the  Average  is  used  because  it  is  much  more  easily  found,  and  be- 
cause most  of  the  standard  results  are   expressed  as  median   scores. 


School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town  3 

The  median  is  simply  the  middle  score  when  all  the  scores  are  arranged 
in  order  of  their  size.* 

A  second  set  of  tables  will  show  the  Wayland  and  Cochituate  me- 
dians together  with  those  from  other  systems  with  which  comparisons 
are  desired,  and  in  the  Appendix  will  be  found  a  sample  of  the  class  lists 
which  will  indicate  the  score  of  each  pupil  in  each  of  the  tests  which  he 
took. 

TABLE   1.     DEARBORN  GROUP  INTELLIGENCE  EXAMINATIONS 

General  Examination  I,  May,  1921 
Distribution  of  Scores  by  Grade  t 


Cochituate 

Wayland 

Sub-Primary 

I 

II 

III 

I 

II 

III 

120+ 

4 

no-119 

2 

100-109 

1 

2 

3 

90-99 

2 

2 

1 

2 

80-89 

0 

3 

1 

1 

70-79 

1 

1 

4 

2 

1 

4 

60-69 

1 

3 

4 

1 

0 

1 

Given 

50-59 

2 

2 

1 

0 

2 

4 

Series 

40-49 

4 

3 

0 

0 

1 

2 

II 

30-39 

6 

4 

0 

1 

2 

20-29 

12 

3 

1 

1 

10-19 

7 

1 

0 

0-9 

1 

No.  Cases 

33 

19 

18 

15 

8 

14 

Median 

28 

48 

75 

105 

43 

70 

*Thus  the  median  of  5,  6,  8^  11,  12,  15,  20  is  11.  When  there  is  an  even  number 
of  items  in  the  series  the  median  is  the  same  as  it  would  be  if  one  more  item  were 
added  to  the  upper  end  of  the  series.  Of  the  series  5,  6,  8,  10,  12,  14,  18,  19,  20, 
21,  the  median  is  14. 

tFor  the  lay  reader  who  is  not  accustomed  to  reading  tables  of  this  sort  it  may  be 
said  that  figures  in  the  above  table  indicate  the  number  of  pupils  who  got  each 
score  on  the  examination.  Thus  in  the  Cochituate  First  grade  3  pupils  made 
scores  between  20  and  29,  inclusive;  4  pupils  made  scores  between  30  and  39,  in- 
clusive; 3  scored  between  40  and  49,  inclusive,  and  so  on. 


A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 


TABLE  2.     DEARBORN  GROUP  INTELLIGENCE  EXAMINATIONS 

General  Examination  I,  May,  1921 

Distribution  of  Scores  by  Age 

Cochituate 


Years  5            6 

Score 

120+ 

110-119 

100-109  1 

90-99  0 

80-89  1            0 

70-79  0            0 

60-69  0            2 

50-59  0            3 

40-49  1            2 

30-39  0            5 

20-29  8            4 

10-19  2  3 
0-9 

No.  Cases  12  20 
36 


Median 


25 


1 
0 

0 

1 
1 

2 
2 
1 
2 
2 
2 
1 

15 
55 


20 
80 


13 

78 


6 


Wayland 

7 


53 


10 
50 


75 


RESULTS  OF  INTELLIGENCE  EXAMINATIONS 

The  Dearborn  Group  Intelligence  Examinations  which  were  used 
in  this  survey  are  made  in  two  forms,  one  for  the  younger  pupils  who 
have  not  yet  mastered  the  arts  of  reading  and  writing  well  enough  to 
use  them  to  any  great  practical  extent,  and  the  other  for  the  older  boys 
and  girls.  In  the  present  instance  the  complete  lower  grade  examina- 
tion was  not  used,  but  a  shorter  form,  which  has  also  been  standardized, 
was  employed.  This  examination  will  be  referred  to  in  this  report  as 
General  Examination  I. 

A  distribution  of  the  scores  made  on  General  Examination  I  in  the 
different  grades  of  both  schools  is  presented  in  Table  1.  Because  of  the 
grouping  of  the  grades  it  was  found  more  practicable  to  test  the  third 
grade  in  Wayland  with  the  Series  II  examination,  so  no  results  for  this 
?rade  are  to  be  found  in  Table  1. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  pupils  in  the  Cochituate  school  are,  in  both 
the  first  and  second  grades,  somewhat  superior  to  the  pupils  in  the  same 
grades  at  Wayland.  We  may  reasonably  expect,  therefore,  when  we 
come  to  the  subject-matter  tests,  to  find  the  median  scores  of  the  first  two 
grades  in  Cochituate  somewhat  higher  than  those  of  the  corresponding 
grades  in  Wayland. 


School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town  5 

In  Table  2  the  distribution  of  the  General  Examination  I  scores  is 
according  to  the  age  of  the  pupils.  The  range  in  age  is  from  5  to  9 
years  in  Cochituate,  and  from  6  to  8  only  in  "VVayland.  This  difference 
is  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  in  Cochituate  there  were  Sub-Primary 
and  Third  grades  tested,  while  at  Wayland  the  test  was  given  to  the 
First  and  Second  grades  alone. 


TABLE  3.     DEARBORN  GROUP  INTELLIGEXCE  EXAMINATIONS 

Series  n,  May,  1921 

Distribution  of  Scores  by  Grade 


Cochituate 

Wayland 

Grades 

IV 

V 

VI  VII 

VIII 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

H.S 

200+ 

190-199 

1 

180-189 

0 

2 

170-179 

0 

1 

5 

160-169 

2 

0 

3 

150-159 

1 

0 

0 

9 

140-149 

1 

1 

0 

3 

130-139 

1 

2 

1 

0 

3 

120-129 

1 

0 

4      1 

4 

1 

5 

110-119 

0 

1 

1      4 

2 

1 

1 

0 

5 

100-109 

0 

0 

1      2 

2 

1 

0 

4 

3 

2 

90-99 

2 

2 

1      2 

0 

1 

1 

1 

3 

1 

2 

80-89 

2 

1 

1      0 

3 

0 

0 

0 

2 

0 

1 

70-79 

7 

3 

1       2 

1 

2 

1 

2 

0 

0 

1 

60-69 

2 

1 

0 

1 

1 

3 

1 

1 

0 

50-59 

7 

2 

2 

0 

0 

1 

1 

1 

1 

40-49 

5 

2 

0 

3 

5 

1 

0 

30-39 

2 

2 

1 

5 

2 

0 

2 

20-29 

1 

2 

1 

2 

10-19 

1 

0-9 

No.   Cases 

28 

15 

12     15 

16 

12 

13 

10 

10 

11 

7 

41 

Median 

50 

72  ; 

LOO  114 

123 

38 

45 

67 

60 

95 

105 

145 

A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 

TABLE  4.     DEARBORN  GROUP  INTELLIGENCE  EXAMINATIONS 

Series  n,  May,  1921 

Distribution  of  Scores  by  Age 

Cochituate  Wayland 


Age 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

Score 

200+ 

190-199 

1 

2 

180-189 

0 

0 

170-179 

0 

1 

0 

1 

3 

160-169 

0 

1 

2 

1 

0 

150-159 

1 

1 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

140-149 

0 

1 

1 

, 

0 

0 

1 

2 

130-139 

1 

0 

0 

3 

2 

1 

0 

0 

120-129 

1 

1 

0 

4 

3 

1 

1 

0 

0 

2 

110-139 

1 

0 

2 

3 

1 

1 

1 

1 

0 

0 

2 

1 

100-109 

0 

0 

1 

2 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

0 

1 

2 

1 

90-99 

2 

1 

1 

1 

0 

2 

1 

1 

0 

2 

2 

1 

0 

80-89 

0 

1 

2 

0 

0 

1 

2 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

1 

1 

70-79 

3 

2 

2 

3 

1 

1 

2 

2 

1 

1 

0 

0 

60-69 

2 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

0 

2 

0 

1 

50-59 

5 

1 

0 

3 

2 

0 

0 

2 

1 

1 

0 

40-49 

5 

2 

1 

1 

5 

3 

1 

0 

0 

30-39 

1 

2 

2 

2 

1 

0 

0 

1 

20-29 

2 

1 

1 

1 

1 

10-19 

1 

0-9 

No.  Cases 

16 

12 

10 

12 

13 

15 

6 

13 

12 

5 

11 

10 

11 

8 

9 

Median 

54  70 

80 

77 

115 

135 

110  43 

63 

75  75 

110  : 

105  : 

115 

143 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  six-year-old  children  in  Wayland  make 
higher  scores  than  the  Cochituate  pupils  of  the  same  age,  but  that  for 
the  seven  and  eight-year-olds  the  Cochituate  medians  are  better.  It 
must  be  noted  that  there  are  so  few  six  and  eight  year  old  pupils  in  Way- 
land  that  the  medians  for  these  years  are  rather  unreliable.*  However, 
the  weight  of  the  e\'idence  points  again  to  the  fact  that  the  Cochituate 
pupils  are  somewhat  superior. 

Tables  3  and  4  show  the  distributions  of  the  scores  made  on  the 
Series  II  examinations  which  were  given  to  the  older  pupils.  Here 
again  we  find  evidence  of  superiority  of  the  Cochituate  pupils,  espe- 


*The  reliability  of  a  median  is  proportional  to  the  number  of  cases  from 
which  it  is  obtained.  See  Thorndike,  Mental  and  Social  Measurements,  Chap. 
XII,  Eeliability  of  Measures. 


School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town  7 

cially  in  the  three  upper  grades.  A  noteworthy  fact  is  the  low  standing 
of  the  sixth  grade  in  Wayland.  The  median  for  this  grade  is  only  60, 
as  compared  with  a  median  of  67  in  the  next  lower  grade.  Other  dis- 
crepancies of  the  same  sort  appear  when  the  scores  are  distributed  ac- 
cording to  age  in  Table  4.  The  median  score  of  the  twelve  year  olds  is 
no  greater  than  that  of  the  eleven  year  olds,  and  the  thirteen  year  olds 
score,  on  the  average,  higher  than  the  fourteen  year  olds.  In  the  fif- 
teenth year  the  "Wayland  median  is  5  points  higher  than  that  of  Cochit- 
uate.  This  is  explainable  by  the  fact  that  in  Cochituate  the  fifteen  year, 
olds  are  probably  for  the  most  part  backward  pupils  who  have  not  yet 
managed  to  get  out  of  the  grades,  while  the  fifteen  year  olds  from  Way- 
land  include  the  brighter  pupils  of  that  age  who  have  gone  on  to  High 
School. 


A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 


Grade 
Score 
130 

125-129 
120-124 
115-119 
110-114 
105-109 
100-104 

95-99 

90-94 

85-89 

80-84 

75-79 

70-74 

65-69 

60-64 

55-59 

50-54 

45-49 

40-44 

35-39 

30-34 

25-29 

20-24 

15-19 

10-14 

5-9 

0-4 

Total 

Median 

Standard 


TABLE  5.     PEET-DEARBORN  ARITHMETIC  TESTS 

Problems 
May,  1921 

Cochituate  "Wayland 

V      VI    VII   VIII  III     IV      V      VI    VII   VIII 


IV 


3 
3 

6 
5 
5 
3 

28 
18 
24 


1 

1 

13 

63 


2 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 

12 

28 


1 
15 
56 


1 
16 
73 


1 
7 
2 
2 
12 
11 


2 
5 
3 
2 
17 
14 


1 

1 

1 

10 

35 


1 

1 
1 

1 

1 

5 

10 

5 


3 

2 

4 

13 

11 


10 

40 


43      22      38      47 


24      43      22      38      47 


School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town  9 

RESUIiTS  OF  THE  ARITHMETIC  TESTS 

For  testing  the  accomplishment  of  the  pupils  in  arithmetic  the  Peet- 
Dearborn  tests  were  used.  These  tests  are  a  recent  product  which  are  a 
considerable  improvement  over  the  older  standard  arithmetic  tests  in 
that  they  are  considerably  more  comprehensive  in  their  scope.  Previous 
tests  in  this  field  have  dealt  largely  with  the  speed  and  accuracy  of  hand- 
ling whole  numbers;  the  series  used  in  these  examinations  includes  all 
the  leading  problems  which  a  pupil  needs  to  master,  such,  for  example, 
as  the  use  of  the  zero,  placing  decimal  points,  the  use  of  round  num-- 
bers,  and  the  use  of  common  fractions.  The  problems  in  each  test  range 
from  very  simple  ones  to  those  which  require  superior  intelligence  for 
solution,  and  in  order  to  get  a  just  method  of  scoring,  each  problem  is 
given  a  value  in  proportion  to  its  difficulty,  which  was  statistically  de- 
termined. The  tests  run  in  two  series;  one  for  grades  Four  and  Five, 
and  the  other  for  grades  Six,  Seven  and  Eight. 

The  distributions  of  the  arithmetic  scores  and  the  median  scores 
of  the  various  grades  are  shown  in  Tables  5  to  9  inclusive.  It  will  be 
noted  in  all  these  tables  that  the  Sixth  grade  scores  are  lower  than  those 
of  the  Fifth  grade.  This  is  because  of  the  different  series  employed  in 
the  examination. 

In  the  Arithmetic  Problems  (Table  5)  the  Cochituate  scores  in 
each  series  are  considerably  higher  than  the  Wayland  scores.  This  dif- 
ference amounts  to  something  more  than  a  full  grade,that  is,  the  Sixth 
grade  at  Wayland  does  not  do  so  well,  on  the  average,  as  the  Fifth  grade 
in  Cochituate.  The  Wayland  Sixth  grade  did  especially  poor  work,  as 
half  the  class  failed  to  solve  correctly  more  than  one  problem. 


10 


A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 


TABTiFJ 

6: 

PEET-DEARBORN 

ARITHMETIC  TESTS 

Addition 

' 

May,  1021 

Cochituate 

Wayland 

Grade 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII  III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

Score 

130 

125-129 

t 

120-124 

115-119 

1 

1 

110-114 

1 

1 

105-109 

1 

100-104 

1 

1 

2 

1 

95-99 

1 

90-94 

1 

85-89 

1 

1 

80-84 

1 

75-79 

1 

2 

70-74 

1 

1 

1 

65-69 

3 

1 

1 

60-64 

1 

4 

55-59 

1 

1 

2 

1 

2 

3 

50-54 

1 

1 

2 

1 

45-49 

2 

1 

3 

2 

40-44 

3 

2 

3 

1 

2 

35-39 

4 

2 

1 

1 

2 

30-34 

2 

4 

2 

4 

1 

3 

25-29 

2 

1 

1 

4 

1 

20-24 

3 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

15-19 

6 

2 

2 

1 

1 

1 

1 

10-14 

2 

1 

1 

5-9 

2 

6 

3 

1 

0-4 

1 

1 

2 

1 

2 

Total 

28 

13 

12 

15 

16 

12 

-17 

10 

10 

13 

10 

Median 

30 

43 

38 

63 

60 

9 

26 

45 

40 

28 

58 

Standard 

30 

51 

35 

51 

54 

, . 

30 

51 

34 

51 

54 

School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town 


11 


TABLE  7.     PEET-DEARBORN  ARITHMETIC  TESTS 
Subtraction 


May,  1921 

Coehituate 

Wayland 

Grade 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII  III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

vii: 

Score 

130 

1 

1 

1 

125-129 

120-124 

1 

115-119 

1 

1 

1 

110-114 

105-109 

1 

1 

100-104 

1 

95-99 

1 

1 

3 

90-94 

1 

1 

85-89 

1 

1 

2 

2 

1 

1 

80-84 

1 

75-79 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

3 

70-74 

1 

1 

1 

1 

65-69 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

60-64 

2 

2 

1 

3 

1 

1 

55-59 

1 

1 

1 

50-54 

2 

1 

1 

1 

2 

1 

45-49 

1 

1 

1 

2 

40-44 

5 

3 

2 

1 

35-39 

4 

2 

1 

30-34 

2 

5 

4 

4 

1 

1 

1 

25-29 

1 

3 

1 

20-24 

2 

1 

4 

1 

1 

1 

15-19 

3 

1 

1 

2 

2 

2 

2 

10-14 

1 

1 

2 

2 

5-9 

1 

4 

2 

1 

0-4 

4 

1 

2 

1 

Total 

28 

13 

12 

15 

16 

12 

17 

10 

10 

13 

10 

Median 

35 

64 

40 

78 

80 

13 

32 

55 

15 

38 

55 

Standard 

29 

51 

34 

52 

62 

29 

51 

34 

52 

62 

12 


A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 


TABIiE  8.     PEET-DEABBORN  ARITHMETIC  TESTS 

Multiplication 

May,  1021 

Cochituate  Wayland 


Grade 

TV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VII 

Score 

130 

1 

2 

1 

125-129 

120-124 

1 

115-139 

2 

1 

110-114 

1 

105-109 

1 

100-104 

2 

95-99 

1 

1 

3 

1 

90-94 

1 

3 

1 

2 

1 

85-89 

1 

1 

1 

2 

2 

80-84 

1 

1 

75-79 

1 

1 

1 

70-74 

1 

1 

65-69 

1 

1 

60-64 

1 

4 

1 

1 

1 

1 

55-59 

1 

1 

2 

1 

2 

50-54 

1 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

45-59 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

40-44 

1 

1 

4 

1 

1 

1 

35-39 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

30-34 

2 

1 

3 

4 

4 

25-29 

1 

2 

1 

1 

1 

20-24 

4 

1 

2 

2 

2 

1 

15-19 

3 

5 

2 

1 

10-14 

3 

2 

1 

5-9 

2 

6 

0-4 

7 

1 

1 

1 

3 

Total 

28 

13 

12 

15 

16 

12 

.  17 

10 

10 

13 

10 

Median 

18 

91 

40 

63 

97 

9 

33 

75 

31 

43 

55 

Standard 

28 

48 

41 

52 

58 

,  , 

28 

48 

41 

52 

58 

School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town 

TABLE  9.     PEET-DEARBORN  ARITHMETIC  TESTS 
Division 


13 


May,  1921 

Cochituate 

"Wayland 

Grade 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII  III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VII 

Score 

130 

5 

125-129 

120-124 

115-119 

2 

1 

110-114 

2 

105-109 

1 

100-104 

95-99 

1 

90-94 

85-89 

2 

1 

2 

80-84 

75-79 

1 

1 

4 

1 

2 

1 

70-74 

3 

3 

1 

2 

2 

65-69 

1 

1 

1 

60-64 

1 

1 

2 

3 

1 

1 

2 

55-59 

1 

1 

50-54 

2 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

45-49 

2 

1 

1 

1 

2 

40-44 

5 

1 

1 

1 

3 

2 

35-39 

2 

1 

1 

1 

30-34 

5 

1  • 

1 

1 

1 

25-29 

1 

1 

3 

1 

20-24 

3 

1 

3 

4 

1 

3 

1 

15-19 

3 

1 

2 

6 

2 

10-14 

3 

1 

1 

2 

5-9 

1 

5 

3 

2 

1 

0-4 

1 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

Total 

28 

13 

12 

15 

16 

12 

17 

10 

11 

13 

10 

Median 

32 

71 

63 

76 

75 

10 

18 

73 

18 

38 

53 

Standard 

28 

49 

31 

49 

61 

28 

49 

31 

49 

61 

The  facts  concerning  the  Addition  examples  are  shown  in  Table  6. 
Here  the  discrepancies  between  the  corresponding  grades  of  the  two 
schools  are  not  great,  except  in  the  Seventh  grade  scores.  In  this  grade 
the  Cochitiiate  median  is  35  points  higher  than  the  Wayland  median. 

Table  7  shows  the  results  of  the  Subtraction  test.  Here  again  there 
are  variations  in  favor  of  Cochituate  which  range  from  6  to  27  points. 


14 


A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 


In  the  Multiplication  test  (Table  8)  the  Fourth  grade  in  Cochituate 
did  very  much  poorer  work  than  it  did  on  the  previous  tests,  and  the 
Wayland  median  is  higher  in  this  grade.  In  all  the  other  grades,  how- 
ever, Cochituate  did  considerably  superior  work,  with  medians  ranging 
from  9  to  27  points  higher  than  those  of  the  Wayland  classes. 

The  test  in  Division  (Table  9)  shows  the  Cochituate  work  superior 
except  in  the  Fifth  grade.  It  is  also  worthy  of  note  that  the  Eighth 
grade  in  Cochituate  does  not  attain  a  higher  median  than  the  Seventh 
grade.     It  is,  however,  considerably  above  the  standard  median. 

In  summary  of  the  results  of  the  Arithmetic  tests  it  may  be  said 
that  the  work  in  Cochituate  is  considerably  in  advance  of  that  at  Way- 
land,  with  only  a  few  exceptions.  The  difference  amounts,  on  the  aver- 
age, to  about  a  year's  work.  This  is  the  state  of  affairs  which  was  pre- 
dicted upon  examination  of  the  results  of  the  intelligence  tests,  and  it  is 
not,  therefore,  surprising. 


TABLE  10.     PICTURE  SUPPLEMENT    SILENT  READING  TQEST 

Distribution  of  Scores 

May,  1021 

Cochituate  Wayland 


Grade 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VII 

100 

98 

92 

86 

1 

80 

1 

0 

74 

1 

1 

0 

68 

0 

4 

1 

1 

0 

62 

1 

3 

0 

1 

0 

1 

0 

56 

2 

4 

1 

1 

0 

0 

1 

2 

1 

0 

50 

3 

5 

1 

2 

2 

1 

1 

0 

0 

0 

1 

44 

1 

3 

0 

1 

1 

3 

1 

2 

1 

2 

2 

38 

2 

1 

1 

0 

0 

1 

2 

2 

3 

2 

0 

2 

32 

4 

1 

1 

0 

1 

4 

1 

4 

1 

0 

0 

1 

26 

3 

1 

2 

3 

5 

4 

5 

2 

0 

1 

1 

1 

20 

1 

7 

1 

2 

3 

0 

1 

1 

2 

5 

0 

14 

1 

0 

1 

0 

1 

0 

0 

3 

0 

8 

0 

0 

1 

1 

1 

0 

1 

2 

1 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

1 

2 

2 

No.  Cases 

19 

23 

14 

10 

13 

17 

11 

16 

10 

8 

13 

9 

Median 

38 

56 

20 

25 

26 

32 

26 

32 

38 

20 

20 

38 

School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town  15 

RESULTS  OF  THE  READING  TEST 

The  test  used  in  this  survey  for,  the  measurement  of  reading  is  one 
recently  published  by  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  and  is  known  as 
Picture  Supplement  Scale,  Form  1.  It  consists,  according  to  the  au- 
thor's description,  of  "a  series  of  pictures  and  paragraphs  about  them. 
These  paragraphs  consist  of  instructions  which  the  pupil  follows  by 
marking  with  his  pencil  a  line  or  lines  to  supplement  the  picture.  His 
ability  to  do  this  in  accordance  with  printed  instructions  reflects  the 
rapidity  and  accuracy  with  which  he  can  read."  A  pupil's  score  is  the. 
number  of  paragraphs  he  marks  correctly,  but  in  order  that  all  the 
grades  may  be  put  on  the  same  basis  the  author  provided  a  table  of 
credits  corresponding  to  the  number  of  paragraphs  correctly  marked  in 
each  grade. 

The  distribution  of  the  scores  on  the  credit  basis  is  given  in  Table 
10,  together  with  the  median  credit  attained  in  each  grade.  For  the 
most  part,  the  Cochituate  median  credits  are  the  higher,  but  in  the 
Eighth  grade  Wayland  has  the  slight  advantage  of  one  more  paragraph 
correctly  marked.  This  result  again  accords  with  the  findings  of  the 
intelligence  examinations  which  led  us  to  expect  better  work  from  the 
pupils  in  Cochituate. 

RESULTS  OF  THE  PENMANSHIP  TESTS 

The  Holmes  Test  for  the  Speed  and  Quality  of  writing  was  used  in 
this  investigation.  For  the  speed  test,  a  short  sentence,  made  up  of 
simple  and  familiar  words,  but  involving  nearly  all  the  letters  and  a 
large  number  of  the  common  letter  combinations,  is  written  repeatedly, 
first  for  a  one  minute  period,  and  then  for  four  minutes.  The  sentence 
is  practically  learned  by  the  children  before  they  begin  to  write  on  the 
test,  so  that  little  time  is  lost  because  of  forgotten  copy.  The  speed  of 
writing  is  obtained  by  taking  the  average  of  the  number  of  letters  writ- 
ten in  the  one-minute  period  and  the  number  written  per  minute  in  the 
four  minute  period. 


16  A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 

TABLE  11.     HOLMES  TEST,  SPEED  OF  WRITING.     May,  1921 

Cochituate  Wayland 

Grade  III   IV    V    VI    VII   VIII    III   IV    V    VI    VII   VIII 

Letters 


per  mm. 

120+ 

5 

1 

1 

115-119 

2 

1 

0 

1 

110-114 

3 

4 

0 

1 

305-109 

1 

1 

2 

0 

0 

100-104 

1 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

95-99 

0 

2 

2 

1 

1 

1 

90-94 

0 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

3 

85-89 

1 

2 

1 

2 

1 

0 

2 

1 

80-84 

0 

1 

2 

1 

1 

1 

2 

75-79 

0 

1 

3 

0 

0 

1 

1 

0 

1 

70-74 

2 

5 

3 

0 

0 

3 

0 

0 

1 

65-69 

0 

5 

0 

2 

1 

0 

4 

2 

60-64 

2 

3 

1 

0 

2 

2 

2 

55-59 

2 

5 

1 

0 

2 

0 

0 

1 

50-54 

2 

1 

0 

0 

3 

3 

0 

0 

45-49 

1 

5 

1 

1 

1 

3 

1 

1 

40-44 

4 

1 

2 

1 

1 

35-39 

0 

0 

1 

2 

30-34 

0 

1 

1 

25-29 

1 

0 

20-24 

1 

19- 

No.  Cases 

15 

27 

14 

10 

14 

16 

11 

15 

10 

9 

11 

9 

Median 

60 

61 

77 

85 

100 

113 

48 

53 

68 

63 

88 

98 

School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town  17 

TABLE  12.     HOLMES  TEST,  QUALITY  OF  WRITING.     May,  1921 
Cochituate  Wayland 

Grade     II    III    IV    V    VI   VII   VIII  III   IV    V    VI    VII   VIII 

90-94 
85-89 

80-84  1 

75-79  1        1 

70-74  2  3  11 

65-69  2 

60-64  "3        1  2      111 

55-59  2  12  11  3 

50-54  321137  13  21 

45-49  285333  2  422 

40-44        349342125  2 

35-39       141311  3311 

30-34        6      2      12  4      4  1 

25-29        4      4  2      1 

20-24        2 
15-19 
10-14 
Total       16    19     23    14    10      14      16      11    16    10      8      10        9 
Median    32    39    46    43    45      50      53      32    40    60    48      50      57 

The  facts  concerning  the  speed  of  writing  are  shown  in  Table  11. 
Here  again  the  medians  show  that  the  work  at  Wayland  is  about  a  grade 
below  that  at  Cochituate.  The  low  standing  of  the  Sixth  grade  at  Way- 
land  is  once  more  noticeable. 

To  get  the  quality  of  penmanship  by  the  Holmes  test,  two  samples 
of  each  child's  writing  are  graded  on  the  Ayres  Handwriting  scale. 
The  first  of  these  samples  is  the  last  half  of  the  material  written  in  the 
four  minute  speed  test,  and  for  the  other  the  pupils  are  given  a  short 
passage  to  write  from  dictation.  The  samples  are  graded  separately, 
each  by  two  correctors  working  independently,  and  the  average  of  the 
four  marks  (two  on  each  paper)  is  taken  as  the  quality  of  the  pupil's 
handwriting. 

The  distributions  and  medians  of  the  marks  obtained  in  the  quality 
of  penmanship  are  shown  in  Table  12.  In  this  test  we  find  for  the  first 
time  that  the  Wayland  medians  equal  or  surpass  those  of  Cochituate. 
The  difference  in  most  cases  is  small,  amounting  to  about  half  a  step  on 
the  Ayres  Scale,  but  in  the  Fifth  grade  the  penmanship  at  Wayland  is 
especially  good. 


Grade 

IV 

Cochituate 

18 

Wayland 

14 

Standard 

24 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

28 

56 

73 

5 

11 

40 

22 

38 

47 

18  A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 

COMPARISONS  WITH  OTHER  SYSTEMS 
1.     The  Arithmetic  Tests 

In  the  following  tables,  13  to  17  inclusive,  are  shown  the  Cochituate 
and  Wayland  median  Arithmetic  scores  compared  with  the  standards. 

TABUB  13.      PROBIJSMS 

May,  1921 

V 

63 

35 

43 

In  the  Fourth  grade  neither  school  attains  the  standard  median 
score  for  the  Problem  Test,  but  in  the  Fifth  grade  the  Cochituate  me- 
dian is  considerably  above  the  standard,  while  the  Wayland  median  is 
considerably  lower.  In  the  upper  grade  test  which  was  given  in  the 
grades  above  the  Fifth,  the  Cochituate  medians  are  uniformly  consid- 
erably larger  than  the  standards,  and  the  Wayland  medians  are  consid- 
erably smaller. 

TABLE  14.     ADDITION  TEST 
May,  1921 

V 
43 
45 

51 

In  the  Fourth  grade,  the  Cochituate  median  in  Addition  exactly 
equals  the  standard,  but  the  Wayland  score  falls  below.  Neither  school 
equals  the  Fifth  grade  standard.  In  the  Sixth  and  Seventh  grades  the 
Cochituate  medians  surpass  the  standards,  while  the  Wayland  scores  fall 
below  again,  especially  in  the  Seventh  grade.  In  the  Eighth  grade,  both 
scores  exceed  the  standard  by  a  good  margin. 


Grade 

IV 

Cochituate 

30 

Wayland 

26 

Standard 

30 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

38 

63 

60 

30 

28 

58 

35 

51 

54 

TABT-E  15. 

SUBTRACTION  TEST 

May,  1921 

Grade 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

Cochituate 

35 

64 

40 

78 

80 

Wayland 

32 

55 

15 

38 

55 

Standard 

29 

51 

34 

52 

62 

In  grades  Four  and  Five  the  Subtraction  medians  in  both  schools 
are  higher  than  the  standards.  In  the  upper  grade  test  we  find  the 
Cochituate  medians  exceeding  the  standards  by  a  good  margin,  espe- 
cially in  the  Seventh  and  Eighth  grades.  Wayland  in  the  upper  grades 
falls  below  the  standard,  and  has  an  especially  low  score  in  grade  Six. 


School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town  19 

TABLE  16.     MULTIPIilCATION  TEST 
May,  1921 

V 
91 
75 

48 

In  multiplication  the  Cochituate  Grade  Four  median  falls  below  the 
standard,  but  Wayland  is  above  it.  In  the  Fifth  grade  both  schools 
exceed  the  standard  by  large  variations.  The  upper  Wayland  grades- 
cannot  attain  the  standards  in  this  operation,  but  the  Eighth  grade 
comes  very  close  to  it.  The  Cochituate  median  is  practically  the  same 
as  the  standard  in  the  Sixth  grade,  and  in  the  Seventh  and  Eighth 
grades  the  medians  of  this  school  are  especially  high. 


Grade 

IV 

Cochituate 

18 

Wayland 

33 

Standard 

28 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

40 

63 

97 

31 

43 

55 

41 

52 

58 

TABT-E 

17.       DIVISION 
May,  1921 

TEST 

Grade 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

Cochituate 

32 

71 

63 

76 

75 

Wayland 

18 

73 

18 

38 

53 

Standard 

38 

49 

31 

49 

61 

In  the  Fourth  grade  neither  school  attains  the  Division  standard, 
though  the  Cochituate  median  is  very  close.  Both  schools  are  well  above 
the  standard  in  the  Fifth  grade.  In  the  three  upper  grades  we  again 
find  that  the  Cochituate  medians  are  well  above  the  standards  for  those 
grades,  while  the  Wayland  medians  fall  below. 


20  A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 

TABLE  18.     PICTURE  SUPPLEMENT,  SILENT  READING  TEST 

Form  I,  May,  1921 

Per  Cent  of  Pupils  Receiving  Each  Mark 


Coehituate 

Wa 

ylanc 

I 

Grade 

Ill 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

Standard 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIll 

100 

98 

1— 

92 

1+ 

86 

3 

80 

5 

4 

74 

5 

4 

10 

6 

68 

0 

18 

0 

6 

8 

62 

5 

13 

10 

8 

0 

10 

10 

56 

11 

18 

7 

0 

0 

0 

11 

6 

20 

8 

50 

16 

22 

7 

20 

15 

6 

12 

9 

0 

0 

0 

44 

5 

13 

0 

10 

8 

18 

11 

9 

13 

10 

15 

11 

38 

11 

4 

7 

0 

0 

6 

10 

18 

13 

30 

25 

0 

22 

32 

21 

4 

7 

0 

8 

23 

8 

9 

25 

10 

0 

0 

22 

26 

16 

4 

15 

30 

39 

23 

6 

46 

13 

0 

13 

8 

11 

20 

5 

50 

10 

15 

18 

4 

0 

6 

10 

25 

38 

0 

14 

7 

0 

8 

3 

0 

6 

0 

0 

23 

0 

8 

0 

1+ 

0 

6 

10 

13 

0 

11 

2 

10 

1— 

0 

0 

0 

3 

0 

No. 

9 

13 

25 

Cases     19    23    14    10      13      17  11    16    10      8      13 


2.     The  Reading  Test 

Table  18  sets  forth  a  comparison  of  the  scores  in  the  Silent  Reading 
Test  with  the  standards.  The  scoring  of  this  test  is  so  arranged  that  in 
any  average  grade  from  the  Second  to  the  Eighth  inclusive  the  percent- 
age of  pupils  obtaining  each  score  is  the  same.  It  will  be  readily  seen 
by  reference  to  the  Table  that  in  neither  school  does  the  distribution 
equal  or  approximate  the  standard.  There  is  no  grade  in  either  school 
which  has  the  average  quota  in  the  upper  third  of  the  distribution. 


3.     The  Penmanship  Tests 

In  Table  19  are  shown  the  medians  for  the  speed  of  writing.  To- 
gether with  the  standards  there  are  in  this  Table  the  scores  from  three 
Massachusetts  communities  where  the  Holmes  Test  has  been  given. 


School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town 


21 


TABT.W  19. 

SPKTIB 

1  OF  PENMANSHIP 

May, 

1021 

Grade 

Ill 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

Cochituate 

60 

61 

77 

85 

100 

113 

Wayland 

48 

53 

68 

63 

88 

98 

Standard 

49 

62 

76 

87 

90 

98 

Newton 

55 

59 

73 

85 

94 

102 

Brookline 

76 

87 

90 

98 

Fall  River 

86 

89 

The  Cochituate  medians  surpass  the  standards  by  a  good  margin  in 
every  grade  except  the  Fifth,  and  also  exceed  the  medians  of  the  other 
school  systems  which  are  listed  in  the  Table.  Wayland,  on  the  other 
hand,  shows  median  scores  considerably  below  the  standards  of  the  other 
school  systems  up  until  the  Seventh  and  Eighth  grades,  where  the  stand- 
ards are  equalled. 

The  medians  for  the  quality  of  penmanship  are  shown  in  Table  20. 
Here  we  find  that,  in  general,  the  medians  are  higher  than  the  standards, 
and  higher  than  those  obtained  in  Brookline  and  Fall  River.  They  do 
not  quite  equal  the  Newton  scores  in  the  grades  below  the  Seventh 


TABT<F.  20. 

QUALITY  OF  PENMANSHIP 

May,  1921 

Grade 

Ill 

IV            V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

Cochituate 

39 

46            43 

45 

50 

53 

Wayland 

32 

40            60 

48 

50 

57 

Standard 

36 

39            44 

46 

47 

49 

Newton 

50 

45            48 

51 

50 

53 

Brookline 

44 

46 

47 

49 

Fall  River 

44 

47 

SUMMARY 

Our  comparison  of  the  two  schools  shows,  in  general,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  grade  or  two  here  and  there,  that  the  quality  of  work  done  by 
the  Cochituate  pupils  is  decidedly  superior  to  that  done  at  Wayland. 
This  statement  holds  except  for  the  quality  of  penmanship,  in  which 
Wayland  does  especially  well.  An  explanation  of  the  better  perform- 
ances of  the  Cochituate  pupils  is  found  in  the  fact  that  they  make  higher 
scores  on  the  Intelligence  Examinations,  thus  indicating  the  probability 
that  they  are  somewhat  superior  in  their  native  abilities. 

It  is  possible  also  to  make  a  rather  general  statement  about  the  com- 
parisons of  the  Cochituate  and  Wayland  scores  with  the  standards.  For 
the  most  part,  the  Cochituate  medians  are  equal  to,  or  better  than  the 


22  A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 

standards,  while  the  Wayland  scores  equal  the  standards  in  only  a  few 
eases  out  of  the  total.  Again  there  is  an  exception  to  this  in  the  case  of 
the  quality  of  penmanship,  in  which  test  the  Wayland  pupils  equalled 
or  surpassed  the  standards  in  most  of  the  grades. 

SUGGESTIONS 

It  is  a  fact  sometimes  overlooked  in  a  report  of  this  sort  that  inter- 
pretation of  the  results  set  forth  is  chiefly  the  business  of  the  teachers 
and  supervisory  officials  of  the  school  system  in  which  the  tests  have 
been  given.  No  one  else  is  continually  on  the  ground  and  familiar  with 
all  the  conditions ;  no  one  else  can  understand  the  facts  in  their  full  sig- 
nificance. 

Perhaps  the  most  valuable  use  to  which  standard  tests  may  be  put 

by  a  school  system  is  that  of  serving  as  a  guide  for  the  formulation  of 

^    standards  for  its  own  work.     Tests  are  first  given  to  show  the  actual 

attainment  of  the  pupils  in  the  schools.     With  these  results  and  inf  orma- 

•  tion  concerning  the  results  of  testing  in  other  schools  standards  may  be 

set  in  the  various  school  subjects. 

It  must  be  held  in  mind  continually,  when  such  standards  are  being 
determined,  that  they  must  always  be  made  with  reference  to  the  condi- 
tions in  the  system  in  question.  Each  community  has  its  own  individ- 
uality— its  own  problems,  its  own  potentialities,  and  its  own  limitations. 
The  recent  development  of  intelligence  tests  has  demonstrated  that  there 
are  undoubtedly  differences  in  native  capacity  which  appear  to  exist 
between  schools  and  school  systems  as  well  as  between  individuals.  No 
system,  therefore,  may  safely  take  as  its  own,  standards  which  have  been 
made  elsewhere,  but  each  must  work  out  a  set  of  standards  for  itself. 

In  this  connection  it  should  be  pointed  out  that  there  has  been  some- 
what of  a  tendency  to  set  too  high  the  standards  in  the  school  subject 
tests.  It  is  forgotten  sometimes  that  these  tests,  for  the  most  part, 
measure  only  the  simpler  and  more  mechanical  phases  of  a  subject,  and 
that  excessive  attention  to  these  phases  may  mean  that  more  important 
things  are  neglected.  Thus  it  becomes  a  question,  for  instance,  whether 
the  relatively  high  scores  made  by  the  Coehituate  pupils  on  most  of  the 
tests  show  a  desirable  state  of  affairs,  and  whether  the  school  should  aim 
to  keep  future  classes  at  the  same  level.  If  the  superior  scores  are  due 
to  superior  ability,  as  may  be  the  case,  it  is  to  be  desired  that  the  same 
high  grade  of  work  be  continued,  but  if  these  scores  are  due  to  over-em- 
phasis on  the  mechanical  parts  of  the  various  subjects,  then  some  change 
should  be  made. 

This  brings  us  to  another  important  consideration :  namely,  that  the 
standards  should  always  be  tentative.  It  is  impossible  to  determine 
once  and  for  all  what  the  accomplishments  of  pupils  should  be.    From 


School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town  23 

time  to  time,  as  the  community  changes,  the  standards  should  change 
also.  In  other  words,  the  problem  of  standards  is  always  an  open  and 
live  one. 

Once  tentative  standards  have  been  set,  the  tests  are  useful  to  deter- 
mine the  progress  of  the  various  schools  in  relation  to  those  standards, 
and  to  gather  material  for  the  revision  of  them.  For  these  purposes  the 
tests  should  be  repeated  at  not  too  frequent  intervals;  once  a  year  is 
probably  often  enough. 

The  results  should  be  studied  with  the  purpose  of  picking  out 
schools,  classes  and  individual  pupils  to  which  some  sort  of  special  atten- 
tion should  be  given.  One  school  of  a  system  may  do  especially  weU  in 
writing,  but  fall  down  in  reading,  while  another  may  exceed  the  stand- 
ards in  both  reading  and  writing,  but  make  a  very  poor  showing  in  the 
arithmetic.  A  class  may  stand  high  in  addition,  but  fail  in  division. 
Some  pupils  will  be  found  to  be  in  need  of  much  individual  work,  while 
others  will  seem  to  have  attained  satisfactory  proficiency  in  all  lines.  In 
the  lower  part  of  the  group  there  wiU  be  found  cases  which  should  be 
turned  over  to  a  specialist  for  searching  mental  examinations,  while 
there  will  be  others  whose  attainments  will  warrant  double  promotion, 
or  who  should  be  enabled  to  speed  up  their  work  in  some  other  way. 

Superintendents  and  teachers  should  remember  that  neither  every 
individual  nor  every  class  should  be  expected  to  attain  the  standards.  If 
anything  stands  out  clearly  in  testing,  it  is  the  fact  of  individual  differ- 
ences, and  many  pupils  will  never  be  able  to  reach  the  standard  medians. 
Indeed,  the  very  definition  of  the  term  ** median"  indicates  that  it  is  a 
mark  which  only  olie-haK  of  the  pupils  equal  or  exceed. 

It  is  often  the  practice  of  supervising  officials  to  judge  the  worth 
of  their  teachers  by  the  scores  that  the  pupils  in  the  various  classes  make 
on  the  standard  tests.  It  is  more  likely,  however,  that  the  success  which 
a  class  has  in  making  high  scores  in  the  standard  tests  has  little  or 
nothing  to  do  with  the  ability  of  the  teacher.  Since  the  assignment  of 
teachers  to  classes  is  largely  a  matter  of  chance,  it  may  easily  happen 
that  the  best  class  in  the  school  may  have  the  poorest  teacher,  and  that 
the  success  of  a  class  may  be  in  spite  of  the  teaching,  rather  than  because 
of  it. 

To  sum  up,  then,  if  the  facts  set  forth  in  this  report  are  to  become 
useful  they  must  be  studied  carefully  and  exhaustively  by  the  people  in- 
terested in  the  schools.  It  must  be  remembered  that  high  scores  in  the 
tests  are  not  the  only,  nor  even  the  most  desirable  ends  of  school  work, 
and  that  possibly  the  classes  which  do  poorly  in  these  are  getting  fully  as 


24  A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 

jnuch  from  the  school.  The  results  in  the  subject  tests  must  be  con- 
sidered in  relation  to  the  intelligence  scores,  and  to  all  other  facts  con- 
cerning the  general  conditions  in  the  schools  and  in  the  community. 
A  little  follow-up  work,  with  special  attention  along  the  lines  suggested 
above  can  hardly  fail  to  be  of  inestimable  value  to  the  pupil,  the  teacher, 
and  the  society  of  which  the  pupil  is  to  become  a  part. 


School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town  25 

PART  II— THE  SURVEY  OF   1922 

In  May,  1922,  a  year  after  the  first  tests  had  been  given  in  Wayland 
and  Coehituate  the  whole  survey  was  repeated.  The  tests  used  were  the 
F&me,  except  that  there  had  been  some  slight  modifications  of  the  Intelli- 
gence and  Arithmetic  Tests.  The  testing  and  grading  was  again  done 
by  carefully  trained  examiners. 

The  results  of  this  second  testing  are  set  forth  in  tables  which  are 
numbered  to  correspond  with  the  tables  in  Part  I,  so  that  it  will  be  easy 
for  anyone  who  is  interested  to  compare  the  distributions  for  the  two 
years. 

RESULTS  OF  INTELLIGENCE  EXAMINATIONS 

Distributions  of  the  scores  made  by  the  pupils  of  the  lower  grades 
on  the  Dearborn  General  Examination  A  are  shown  in  Table  la.  In 
Table  2a  the  same  scores  are  distributed  according  to  the  ages  of  the 
pupils. 

There  is  evidence  in  these  figures  that  Coehituate  has  pupils  of  su- 
perior mentality  in  the  First  grade,  as  shown  by  the  median  score  of  48 
as  opposed  to  the  Wayland  median  of  33.  Also,  it  may  be  seen  in  the 
second  Table  that  the  median  score  of  the  six-year-olds  is  identical  in 
both  schools.  In  the  Second  grade,  however,  it  appears  that  the  Way- 
land  children  are  superior,  with  a  class  median  of  66  against  60  made  by 
the  Coehituate  class.  The  seven-year-olds  at  Wayland  also  do  somewhat 
better  than  the  seven-year-olds  at  Coehituate.  The  superiority  of  the 
Wayland  children  in  the  Second  grade  amounts  to  about  five  months  on 
a  mental  age  basis,  and  while  this  is  not  an  especially  great  difference, 
it  is  probably  large  enough  to  be  significant. 


26 


A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 


TABLE   la.     DEARBORN  GROUP  INTELLIGENCE   EXAMINATIONS 

General  Examination  A,  May,  1922 
Distribution  of  Scores  by  Grade 


Cochituate 

Wayland 

Sub -Primary 

I 

II 

III 

I 

II 

III 

95-99 

2 

90-94 

1 

3 

85-89 

3 

80-84 

1 

4 

75-79 

0 

3 

3 

70-74 

2 

1 

0 

65-69 

2 

2 

2 

60-64 

2 

0 

3 

1 

Given 

55-59 

1 

6 

3 

2 

2 

Series 

50-54 

0 

3 

1 

0 

0 

II 

45-49 

0 

4 

1 

1 

1 

1 

40-44 

2 

6 

1 

0 

35-39 

2 

2 

4 

30-34 

6 

2 

3 

25-29 

2 

1 

20-24 

1 

1 

15-19 

0 

10-14 

1 

5-9 

0 

0-4 

1 

No,  Cases 

22 

29 

11 

24 

12 

9 

Median 

30 

48 

60 

80 

33 

66 

Mental  Age 

of  Median 

6-8 

7-7 

8-4 

10-5 

6-10 

8-9 

Child 

School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town 


27 


TABLE  2a. 


Years 

95-99 
90-94 
85-89 
80-84 
75  79 
70-74 
65-69 
60-64 
55-59 
50-54 
45-49 
40-44 
35-39 
30-34 
25-29 
20-24 
15-19 
10-14 

5-9 

0-4 
No.   Cases 
Median 
M.A.  of 
Med.  Child 


DEARBORN   GROUP   INTELLIGENCE   EXAMINATIONS 
General  Examination  A,  May,  1922 
Distribution  of  Scores  by  Age 

Cochituate 


1 
0 
2 
1 
0 
0 
1 
1 

6 
30 


20 
30 


21 

48 


18 
56 


11 
73 


10 

1 
0 
2 
1 
1 
0 
0 
1 
0 
1 


7 
78 


Wayland 

6  7 


1 

6 
30 


10 
55 


5 

58 


6-8       6-^ 


7-7       8-1      9-6     10-1        6-8       8-0     8-2 


NOTE : — Two  11-year  old  pupils  and  one  13-year  old  from  the  Cochit- 
uate school  are  omitted  from  this  Table. 


28  A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 

In  Tables  3a  and  4a  will  be  found  the  distributions  of  the  Dearborn 
General  Examination  C  which  was  given  to  the  older  children.  In  the 
Fourth  and  Sixth  grades  the  Wayland  medians  are  higher,  in  the  Fifth 
and  Seventh  grades  the  Cochituate  medians  are  higher,  while  in  the 
Eighth  grade  the  medians  are  exactly  the  same.  The  largest  difference 
is  in  the  Sixth  grade  where  Wayland  has  a  median  which  is  8  points 
higher  than  that  of  Cochituate.  This  means  a  difference  of  over  a  year 
in  terms  of  mental  age,  and  is  a  large  variation.  The  difference  of  four 
points  in  the  Fourth  grade  is  probably  also  large  enough  to  be  of  signifi- 
cance. 

This  state  of  affairs  is  quite  different  from  that  which  was  discov- 
ered the;  previous  year.  In  1921  the  results  showed  rather  clearly  that 
in  most  grades  the  pupils  of  the  Cochituate  school  were  superior  to  those 
in  the  same  grade  at  Wayland.  Now  many  of  the  differences  seem  to 
have  disappeared,  and  those  which  remain  seem  to  be  in  favor  of  Way- 
land  rather  than  of  Cochituate.  A  possible  explanation  of  this  change 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  results  of  the  first  report  were  used  to  make  ex- 
tensive changes  in  the  organization  of  each  school,  and  it  seems  likely 
that  the  reorganization  classified  the  children  into  much  more  homoge- 
"N     neous  groups. 

One  interesting  fact  should  be  noted  in  passing.  In  1921  the  Sixth 
grade  at  Wayland  proved  to  be  inferior  to  the  fifth  grade  in  the  intelli- 
gence test.  In  1922  the  Seventh  grade,  composed  largely  of  the  same 
pupils  who  made  up  the  Sixth  grade  in  the  previous  year,  is  quite  mark- 
edly inferior  to  the  Sixth.  Evidently  the  character  of  this  class  was  not 
entirely  changed  in  the  reorganization. 


School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town 


29 


TABIiE    3a.    DEARBORN    GROUP  INTELLIGENCE   EXAMINATIONS 

Gen.  Exam.  C,  May,  1932 

Distribution  of  Scores  by  Grade 

Cochituate  Wayland 

IV    V    VI    VII   VIII        III    IV    V    VI    VII   VIII 


Grade 
80+ 
75-79 
70-74 
65-69 
60-64 
55-59 
50-54 
45-49 
40-44 
35-39 
30-34 
25-29 
20-24 
15-19 
10-14 

5-9 

0-4 
No.  Cases 
Median 
M.A.  of 
Med.  Child 


1 

3 

2 

2 

3 

2 

2 

2 

17    35    17 
19    27    38 


13 

42 


17 
53 


10-2  11-6    13-4    14-0     15-10 


13    11    12    11      12      15 

18    23    25    46      40      53 

10-0  10-10  11-2  14-8     13-8     15-10 


30 


A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 


TABLE  4a.     DEARBORN  GROUP  INTELLIGENCE   EXAMINATIONS 

Gen.  Exam.  C,  May,  1922 

Distribution  of  Scores  by  Age 

Cochituate  Wayland 


Age 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14  15 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

80+ 

75-79 

70-74 

1 

65-69 

1 

0 

60-64 

1 

2 

2 

1 

1 

2 

55-59 

1 

1 

0 

2 

1 

1 

0 

1 

1 

3 

50-54 

0 

1 

2 

1 

3 

1 

0 

0 

1 

0 

2 

0 

45-49 

2 

0 

0 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

3 

2 

0 

40-44 

2 

1 

5 

2 

3 

0 

0 

2 

2 

0 

0 

35-39 

1 

0 

2 

2 

3 

0 

0 

0 

1 

1 

0 

0 

30-34 

2 

4 

1 

3 

1 

4 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

1 

1 

25-29 

1 

3 

3 

0 

1 

1 

4 

2 

2 

20-24 

2 

2 

3 

1 

2 

2 

2 

4 

1 

15-19 

3 

4 

3 

3 

6 

0 

2 

1 

2 

1 

10-14 

2 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

5-9 

2 

0 

1 

1 

0-4 

1 

1 

No. 

Cases 

9 

23 

16 

20 

14 

16 

1 

9 

9 

15 

10 

8 

10 

6 

5 

Med'n 

24 

26 

25 

40 

40 

45 

18 

26 

24 

30 

45 

43 

50 

M.A.  of 

Med. 

Cliild 

11-0 

1  11-4 

11-2 

13-8 

13-8 

14-6 

10-0 

11-4 

11-0  12-0 

14-6 

14-2 

15-4 

NOTE :  One  16-year  old  pupil  and  one  18-year  old  pupil  from  the  Way- 
land  school  have  been  omitted  from  this  Table. 


School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town  31 

RESULTS  OF  THE  ARITHMETIC  TESTS 

As  previously  noted,  the  Peet-Dearborn  Arithmetic  Tests  had  been 
somewhat  modified  between  the  two  testings  so  the  results  of  the  two 
years  are  not  directly  comparable.  There  are  still,  however,  two  series 
of  the  tests,  one  for  the  Fourth  and  Fifth  grades,  and  the  other  for 
grades  Six,  Seven  and  Eight.  This  accounts  for  the  fact  that  in  all  the 
Tables  the  Sixth  grade  scores  are  usually  lower  than  those  made  by  the 
Fifth  grade. 

In  Table  5a  will  be  found  the  distributions  of  the  scores  obtained  on 
the  Problem  Test,  together  with  the  class  medians.  The  medians  in 
grades  IV  and  V  show  better  work  by  the  Wayland  children,  though  the 
Fifth  grade  medians  differ  by  only  two  points,  an  insignificant  differ- 
ence. In  the  upper  grades,  however,  the  scores  are  very  decidedly  in 
favor  of  Cochituate.  These  differences  cannot  be  explained  on  the  basis 
of  the  intelligence  of  the  classes,  except  perhaps  in  the  Fourth  grade 
where  the  Wayland  class  made  a  significantly  higher  median  in  the 
intelligence  test.  It  would  seem  that  in  the  Sixth  grade  especially, 
where  the  mental  age  of  the  Wayland  pupils  is  about  a  year  higher,  a 
larger  median  might  reasonably  be  expected. 

Table  6a  presents  the  distributions  and  medians  in  the  Addition 
Test.  Here  we  find  that  the  medians  for  the  Fourth  and  Fifth  grades 
are  practically  the  same,  though  in  the  former  grade  the  Cochituate 
median  is  somewhat  higher.  In  the  upper  grades  we  find  the  Cochit- 
uate medians  are  larger  by  substantial  margins  which  range  from  10 
to  21  points. 

In  Table  7a  we  have  the  facts  about  the  Subtraction  Test.  It  will 
be  seen  that  in  the  three  lower  grades  the  Wayland  medians  are  decid- 
edly higher,  while  in  the  Seventh  and  Eighth  grades  the  Cochituate 
classes  show  to  much  better  advantage.  It  appears  that  the  Seventh 
and  Eighth  grade  medians  at  Wayland  are  extremely  low. 


32 


A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 


TABLE  5a. 

PKF.T-DEARBOBN   PROGESS 

TESTS   IN 

ARITHMETIC 

Problems 

May, 

1922 

Cochituate 

Wayland 

Grades 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

130+ 

2 

125-129 

120-124 

115-119 

110-114 

1 

2 

105-109 

0 

1 

2 

100-104 

0 

95-99 

2 

90-94 

5 

1 

85-89 

1 

0 

0 

80-84 

2 

1 

1 

0 

3 

75-79 

1 

0 

1 

2 

0 

70-74 

4 

1 

0 

1 

1 

65-69 

0 

0 

2 

1 

2 

0 

60-64 

2 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

55-59 

1 

3 

3 

0 

1 

0 

2 

1 

0 

50-54 

0 

1 

4 

4 

1 

1 

2 

2 

1 

0 

45-49 

0 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

40-44 

0 

5 

0 

1 

0 

2 

2 

2 

3 

35-39 

0 

0 

0 

2 

1 

1 

0 

1 

2 

30-34 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

25-29 

1 

2 

2 

1 

1 

0 

0 

1 

1 

20-24 

3 

5 

2 

1 

1 

2 

1 

0 

1 

0 

15-19 

2 

0 

2 

0 

0 

0 

1 

1 

10-14 

3 

2 

1 

1 

0 

2 

2 

1 

5-9 

5 

2 

4 

1 

2 

0-4 

2 

3 

1 

1 

No.  Cases 

17 

33 

17 

13 

17 

11 

12 

11 

12 

15 

Median 

13 

43 

52 

52 

91 

22 

50 

33 

40 

44 

Standard 

24 

38 

22 

41 

56 

24 

38 

22 

41 

56 

School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town 


33 


TABIiE  6a. 


Grades 
130+ 
125-129 
120-124 
115-119 
110-114 
105-109 
100-104 

95-99 

90-94 

85-89 

80-84 

75-79 

70-74 

65-69 

60-64 

55-59 

50-54 

45-49 

40-44 

35-39 

30-34 

25-29 

20-24 

15-19 

10-14 

5-9 

0-4 

N.o  Cases 

Median 

Standard 


PEET-DEARBORN  PROGRESS  TESTS  IS  ARITHMETIC 
Addition 
May,  1922 

Coehituate  Wayland 

IV      V      VI    VI   VIII  IV      V      VI    VII   VIII 

1 


17 
31 
30 


33 
62 
50 


17 
49 
35 


13 
54 
52 


17 
69 
60 


11 
24 
30 


12 

64 
50 


11 
39 
35 


1 

12      15 

38      48 
52      60 


34 


A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 


TABLE  7a. 


Grades 
130+ 
125-129 
120-124 
115-119 
110-114 
105-109 
100-104 

95-99 

90-94 

85-89 

80-84 

75-79 

70-74 

65-69 

60-64 

55-59 

50-54 

45-49 

40-44 

35-39 

30-34 

25-29 

20-24 

15-19 

10-14 

5-9 

0-4 

No.  Cases 

Median 

Standards 


PEET-DEARBORN  PROGRESS  TESTS  IN  ARITHMETIC 
Subtraction 
May,  1922 

Cochituate  Wayland 

IV      V      VI    VII   VIII        IV      V      VI    VII  VIII 


17 
38 
28 


32 

58 
47 


16 
52 
39 


13 
53 
57 


17 
68 
68 


11 
51 

28 


12 
65 

47 


1 
11 
63 
39 


2 

1 

0 

3 

2 

1 

1 

1 

1 

12 

25 

57 


15 
34 
66 


School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town  35 

Distributions  and  medians  for  the  Multiplication  Test  are  shown  in 
Table  8a.  The  Fourth  grade  medians  are  practically  identical.  Way- 
land  has  an  advantage  of  8  points  in  the  Fifth  grade,  and  Cochituate 
excels  in  the  upper  grades  by  margins  running  up  to  32  points  in  grade 
Eight. 

Table  9a  shows  the  results  of  the  Division  Test.  Here  we  find 
that  the  Cochituate  medians  are  decidedly  higher  throughout  the  whole 
five  grades.  The  points  of  difference  range  from  9  in  the  Sixth  grade 
to  38  in  the  Eighth. 

In  Table  9b  the  averages  of  the  pupils  in  all  operations  are  distrib- 
uted. The  medians  are  substantially  the  same  in  the  Fourth  and  Fifth 
grades,  but  in  the  upper  grades  the  Cochituate  medians  are  considerably 
higher. 

Summarizing  the  results  of  the  Arithmetic  Tests  we  may  say,  in 
general,  that  the  work  of  the  Cochituate  children  is  superior.  This  is 
not  true  in  all  cases  in  the  two  lower  grades  (IV  and  V)  where  the  me- 
dians are  more  nearly  equal  and  where  the  Wayland  medians  are  in  one 
or  two  cases  distinctly  higher.  The  differences  which  we  find  are  not 
to  be  explained  on  the  basis  of  intelligence  differences,  as  the  latter  are 
small  except  in  cases  where  they  favor  Wayland.  It  seems  likely,  there- 
fore, either  that  more  time  is  given  to  arithmetic,  especially  in  the  upper 
grades,  at  Cochituate  than  at  Wayland,  or  that  the  Cochituate  teachers 
use  markedly  superior  methods  in  their  teachiag. 


36 


A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 


TABLE  8a. 

PEI 

DT-DE 

ARB( 

)RX  P 

BOGBESI 

S  TES' 

rs  IN 

ARH 

L'UME 

TIC 

Multiplication 

May, 

1922 

Coehituate 

Wayland 

Grades 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IV 

V 

VI 

Vil 

VIII 

130+ 

1 

125-129 

120-124 

115-119 

110-114 

1 

1 

105-109 

2 

0 

0 

100-104 

3 

3 

2 

1 

95-99 

1 

1 

0 

0 

90-94 

1 

0 

0 

0 

1 

85-89 

6 

3 

3 

2 

1 

1 

80-84 

0 

0 

1 

1 

1 

0 

1 

75-79 

3 

3 

2 

1 

1 

0 

70-74 

1 

1 

2 

0 

3 

0 

2 

65-69 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

1 

60-64 

0 

2 

5 

1 

2 

1 

55-59 

2 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

2 

1 

50-54 

3 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

0 

2 

45-49 

2 

3 

1 

0 

1 

1 

40-44 

2 

2 

1 

4 

1 

1 

2 

3 

35-39 

3 

1 

0 

0 

0 

2 

0 

1 

30-34 

2 

3 

4 

2 

1 

0 

2 

2 

2 

25-29 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

0 

2 

20-24 

1 

0 

1 

1 

2 

2 

15-19 

1 

1 

1 

0 

1 

10-14 

1 

1 

5-9 

0-4 

1 

No.  Cases 

17 

32 

16 

13 

17 

11 

11 

11 

12 

15 

Median 

44 

75 

60 

76 

83 

42 

83 

39 

30 

51 

Standard 

28 

48 

31 

51 

68 

28 

48 

31 

51 

68 

School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town 


37 


TABIiE  9a. 

PEET-DE 

ARBO 

•RN  P] 

ROGRES 

IS  TES' 

rs  IN 

ARITHMETIC 

Division 

May, 

1922 

Cochituate 

Wayland 

Grades 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

130+ 

1 

1 

125-129 

120-124 

1 

115-119 

1 

110-114 

1 

105-109 

1 

1 

100-104 

1 

1 

3 

1 

95-99 

0 

1 

0 

0 

0 

90-94 

1 

1 

1 

0 

1 

85-89 

2 

2 

2 

1 

80-84 

0 

0 

0 

0 

75-79 

3 

2 

4 

1 

70-74 

1 

0 

0 

0 

2 

65-69 

3 

0 

1 

1 

1 

1 

0 

60-64 

2 

3 

3 

1 

2 

0 

0 

1 

1 

55-59 

0 

2 

0 

1 

0 

0 

1 

0 

50-54 

2 

3 

3 

0 

1 

1 

0 

1 

45-49 

1 

2 

2 

1 

0 

0 

2 

0 

40-44 

3 

2 

2 

1 

1 

2 

2 

4 

35-39 

3 

3 

1 

0 

1 

1 

0 

0 

3 

30-34 

3 

2 

3 

2 

0 

1 

4 

0 

1 

25-29 

1 

0 

0 

1 

0 

20-24 

3 

0 

2 

1 

15-19 

1 

1 

1 

2 

10-14 

0 

1 

1 

5-9 

2 

1 

1 

0-4 

No.   Cases 

17 

32 

16 

13 

17 

11 

12 

11 

12 

15 

Median 

39 

61 

50 

76 

79 

24 

45 

41 

43 

43 

Standard 

29 

46 

34 

55 

67 

29 

46 

34 

55 

67 

38 


A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 


TABLE  9b.     PEET-DEARBORN  PROGRESS  TESTS  IN  ARITHMETIC 

Average  Operations 
May,  1922 

Cochituate  Wayland 


Grades 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

vi: 

130-f 
125-129 

120-124 
115-119 

1 

110-114 

1 

105-109 

1 

100-104 
95-99 

0 
1 

1 

90-94 

1 

85-89 

2 

1 

2 

2 

3 

80-84 

■ 

1 

1 

3 

2 

1 

75-79 

2 

0 

2 

0 

70-74 

2 

1 

0 

3 

1 

1 

65-69 

3 

2 

1 

2 

1 

1 

60-64 

6 

2 

0 

1 

1 

55-59 

1 

1 

2 

2 

1 

0 

1 

50-54 

2 

4 

4 

0 

2 

1 

1 

1 

45-49 

1 

0 

4 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

40-44 

5 

2 

1 

0 

3 

1 

1 

3 

2 

35-39 

3 

1 

2 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

2 

30-34 

1 

3 

1 

1 

2 

2 

2 

0 

2 

25-29 

1 

0 

0 

2 

0 

2 

1 

20-24 

2 

1 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

15-19 

0 

1 

1 

10-14 

1 

1 

5-9 

0-4 

No.  Cases 

17 

32 

16 

13 

17 

11 

11 

11 

12 

15 

Medians 

41 

63 

50 

61 

76 

38 

66 

43 

38 

44 

Standard 

30 

47 

34 

53 

65 

30 

47 

34 

53 

65 

School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town 


39 


RESULTS  OF  THE  READING  TEST 

The  Picture  Supplement  Test  for  silent  reading  is  published  in  sev- 
eral forms  of  equivalent  value,  and  as  Form  1  was  used  in  1921,  Form  2 
was  chosen  for  the  1922  testing.  The  distributions  and  medians  will  be 
found  in  Table  10.  It  should  be  remembered  fn  connection  with  these 
figures  that  the  scoring  of  this  test  is  arranged  to  give  a  median  score 
of  50  to  the  average  or  normal  class,  irrespective  of  the  grade.  In  the 
Third  and  Fourth  grades  the  differences  are  not  very  great,  and  are 
slightly  in  favor  of  the  Cochituate  classes.  In  the  Fifth  and  Sixth 
grades,  however,  Wayland  shows  decidedly  to  advantage.  Cochituate' 
medians  are  higher  in  the  Seventh  and  Eighth  grades. 


TABLE  10a.     BURGESS  PICTURE  SUPPLEMENT 

SILENT  READING  TEST 

Distribution  of  Scores 

May,  1922 

Cochituate  "Wayland 

Grades    III   IV    V    VI    VII   VIII    III   IV    V    VI   VII   VIII 


100 

1 

2 

98 

92 

1 

86 

2 

1 

0 

80 

0 

1 

1 

1 

1 

'. . 

1 

74 

1 

0 

1 

0 

1 

1 

1 

0 

68 

2 

1 

2 

3 

2 

4 

3 

3 

1 

1 

62 

1 

2 

3 

3 

0 

0 

3 

2 

1 

0 

2 

56 

1 

3 

3 

1 

2 

0 

2 

1 

1 

1 

3 

50 

5 

0 

1 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

1 

• 

2 

0 

44 

3 

4 

4 

1 

0 

1 

2 

2 

0 

0 

0 

38 

6 

2 

5 

2 

2 

0 

2 

5 

1 

1 

0 

2 

32 

1 

3 

4 

2 

1 

1 

1 

0 

0 

1 

1 

3 

26 

2 

7 

0 

3 

1 

2 

1 

1 

1 

2 

2 

20 

2 

3 

1 

1 

2 

2 

1 

14 

1 

1 

8 

1 

1 

0 

1 

0 

1 

No,  Cases 

24 

16 

34 

16 

13 

15 

12 

11 

12 

11 

12 

15 

Median 

50 

47 

40 

53 

43 

55 

47 

41 

62 

71 

32 

43 

40  A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 

These  results  seem  to  imply  some  differences  in  the  methods  of 
teaching  reading  or  the  subject  matter  used  or  both.  Further,  the  dif- 
ferences seem  to  exist  not  only  between  the  two  schools,  but  between  the 
different  grades  in  each  separate  school. 

BESUTLTS  OF  THE  PENMANSHIP  TEST 

The  Holmes  Test  was  used,  exactly  as  in  the  previous  survey,  and 
the  children  were  rated  for  both  Speed  and  Quality  of  writing. 

The  scores  for  Speed  in  letters  per  minute  are  shown  in  Table  11a. 
The  Cochituate  medians  in  every  grade  except  the  Eighth  are  higher 
than  the  Wayland  medians.  The  differences,  however,  are  hardly  great 
enough  to  be  of  significance  except  in  the  Seventh  grade. 

The  distributions  of  the  scores  in  Quality  of  penmanship  are  shown 
in  Table  12a.  The  differences  in  the  grade  medians  of  the  two  schools 
are  so  small  as  to  be  insignificant,  excepting  possibly  the  Third  grade, 
where  the  difference  is  five  points,  or  half  a  step  on  the  Ayres  scale,  in 
favor  of  Wayland.  In  neither  school  is  there  any  improvement  in  the 
Quality  of  the  writing  after  the  Sixth  grade. 


School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town  41 

HOLMES  TEST 

TABLE   11a.      SPEED   OF  WRITING 

May,  1922 

Cochituate  Wayland 

Grades  II    III    IV    V    YI    VII   VIII    III    IV    V    VI    VII   VIII 
125-129 
120-124 

115-119  2  1  2  • 

110-114  12  1  0 

105-109  1113  2 

100-104  12        2        2  1  4 

95-99  2622  0211 

90-94  7240  0414 

85-89  "4  2        5  2       10        1 

80-84  11  22  2060 

75-79  ..14  0      2        2        1 

70-74      11231  203 

65-69     13       3       4  1  11 

60-64      0      10       2  10 

55-59      10      14  2      11 

50-54      14      6.  112       1 

45-49      2      8      2  13 

40-44      14      0  4      0 

35-39      3       11  2       1 

30-34      0      2  11 

25-29      1  11 

20-24  1 

15-19 
10-14 
5-9 
No. 

Cases     11    24    17    34    16 
Med'n   46    48    54    80    99 


13 

17 

12  10  11  11 

13 

15 

94 

96 

42  46  74  91 

l82 

101 

42  A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 

HOLMES  TEST 
TABLE    12a.      QUALITY  OF  WRITING 
May,  1922 

Cochituate  Wayland 

Grades  II  III  IV  V  VI  VII  VIII  III  IV  V  VI  VII  VIII 
95-99 
90-94 
85-89 
80-84 
75-79 
70-74 

65-69  1 

60-64  1 

55-59  0 

50-54  2  13        2 

45-49  33122  102 

40-44  34303  1  3222 

35-39  374        8        4  2233        2        0 

30-34        13374        3        3  2513        5        4 

25-29        6     13       662        11  314112 

20-24       4827  1231  1 

15-19 
10-14 
5-9 
No. 

Cases      11    24    17    34    16 
Med'n    26    28    32    33     38 

COMPARISONS  WITH  STANDARDS 
1.     The  Arithmetic  Tests 

In  the  following  Tables  13a  to  17a  inclusive  will  be  found  the 
median  arithmetic  scores  of  both  schools  in  comparison  with  the  stand- 
ards. 

TABLE  ISa.      PROBLEMS 
May,  1922 

V 
43 
45 

38 

The  Fourth  grade  at  Cochituate  and  the  Eighth  grade  at  Wayland 
are  the  only  grades  which  faU  below  the  standards  in  the  Problem  Test. 
In  the  other  grades  the  medians  are  pretty  uniformly  well  above  the 


13 

16 

12  11 

12 

11 

13 

15 

37 

39 

33  31 

35 

38 

36 

41 

Grade 

IV 

Cochituate 

13 

Wayland 

24 

Standard 

24 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

52 

52 

91 

33 

40 

44 

22 

41 

56 

School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town  43 

standards.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  there  has  been  a  decided  improve- 
ment in  the  work  at  Wayland,  for  the  results  of  the  first  testing  showed 
not  a  single  median  which  equalled  or  surpassed  the  standards  in  this 
test.  / 

TABLE  14a.      ADDITION  TEST 


May,  1922 

Grade 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

Cochituate 

31 

62 

49 

54 

69 

Wayland 

24 

64 

39 

38 

48 

Standards 

30 

50 

35 

52 

60 

In  Addition  the  record  is  again  good.  The  Cochituate  medians  are 
all  higher  than  the  standards,  as  are  the  Wayland  Fifth  and  Sixth  grade 
medians.  In  the  Fourth  grade  the  Wayland  median  is  somewhat  below 
the  standard.  The  Seventh  grade  shows  no  progress  over  the  Sixth, 
and  the  Eighth  grade  also  is  low. 

TABLE  15a.      SUBTRACTION  TEST 


May,  1922 

Grade 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

Cochituate 

38 

58 

52 

49 

68 

Wayland 

51 

65 

63 

25 

34 

Standards 

28 

47 

39 

57 

66 

In  Subtraction  the  Cochituate  medians  are  well  above  the  standards 
except  in  the  Seventh  grade,  where  both  schools  fall  below.  The  Way- 
land  Eighth  grade  attained  a  median  which  is  only  about  half  what  may 
be  expected  from  the  average  class.  The  Wayland  record  is  somewhat 
better  than  the  previous  one,  as  this  time  there  are  three  instead  of  two 
classes  above  the  standards.  It  is  also  noticeable  that  in  the  Fourth, 
Fifth  and  Sixth  grades  the  Wayland  medians  are  weU  above  those  of  the 
Cochituate  classes. 

TABLE  16a.     MULTIPLICATION  TEST 


May,  1922 

Grade 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

Cochituate 

44 

75 

60 

76 

83 

Wayland 

42 

83 

39 

30 

51 

Standards 

28 

48 

31 

51 

68 

In  the  Multiplication  Test  the  Cochituate  pupils  obtained  especially 
high  scores,  as  the  medians  show.  We  again  find  the  Wayland  medians 
surpassing  the  standards  in  the  first  three  grades,  but  they  fall  below  in 
the  Seventh  and  Eighth.     The  records  are  not  greatly  different  from 


44  A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 

those  made  at  the  previous  testing  except  for  the  fact  that  the  Cochit- 
uate  Fourth  grade  and  the  Wayland  Sixth  grade  have  much  better  rec- 
ords in  the  1922  tests. 

TABLE  17a.     DIVISION  TEST 


May,  1922 

Grade 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

Cochituate 

39 

61 

50 

76 

79 

"Wayland 

24 

45 

41 

43 

41 

Standard 

29 

46 

34 

55 

67 

The  Cochituuate  class  medians  are  all  well  above  the  standards  in 
the  Division  Test.  In  Wayland  the  class  medians  are  practically  equal 
to  the  standards  in  the  Fourth  and  Fifth  grades,  well  above  in  the  Sixth 
grade,  but  very  much  below  in  the  Seventh  and  Eighth  grades.  The 
chief  change  from  the  previous  year  is  that  the  Wayland  Sixth  grade  is 
now  well  above  the  standard  instead  of  below  it  as  formerly. 

TABLE  17b.  AVERAGE  OPERATIONS 


May,  1922 

Grade 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

Cochituate 

41 

63 

50 

61 

76 

Wayland 

38 

66 

43 

38 

44 

Standard 

30 

47 

34 

53 

65 

When  the  averages  of  the  pupils'  scores  in  the  four  fundamental 
operations  are  considered,  the  work  of  the  Cochituate  classes  is  well 
above  the  standard  in  every  grade.  This  also  applies  to  the  Fourth, 
Fifth  and  Sixth  grades  in  Wayland.  In  the  Wayland  Seventh  and 
Eighth  grades,  however,  the  medians  are  considerably  lower  than  the 
standards. 

SUMMARY  OF  THE  RESULTS  IN  THE  ARITHMETIC  TESTS 

In  all  but  two  cases,  the  Cochituate  medians  in  the  Arithmetic  Tests 
surpass  the  standards.  Usually  the  difference  in  favor  of  Cochituate  is 
a  very  large  one,  and  many  of  the  classes  equal  or  exceed  the  standard 
average  median  of  the  next  higher  grade.  This  raises  the  question  as 
to  whether  there  is  not  too  much  emphasis  on  the  teaching  of  Arithmetic 
in  the  Cochituate  school.  It  is  probable  that  the  Cochituate  children 
are,  as  the  Intelligence  Tests  indicate,  somewhat  superior  in  native 
ability  to  children  in  many  other  localities,  and  so  should  be  able  to  do 
better  work.  However,  there  is  a  point  beyond  which  drill  and  prac- 
tice in  arithmetic  is  not  economical.  It  is  quite  certain  that  no  addi- 
tional time  or  attention  need  be  given  to  arithmetic  in  this  school,  and  it 
might  possibly  be  well  to  lighten  the  requirements. 


School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town  45 

The  results  at  "Wayland  are  not  quite  so  consistent.  In  general, 
the  medians  of  the  Fourth,  Fifth  and  Sixth  grades  practically  equal  or 
exceed  the  standards.  In  the  Seventh  and  Eighth  grades,  however,  the 
standards  are  considerably  higher  than  the  median  performances  of  the 
Wayland  classes,  with  the  exception  of  the  Seventh  grade  median  in  the 
Problem  Test.  In  general  it  may  be  said  that  the  Wayland  medians 
are  below  those  of  the  Coehituate  classes,  though  there  is  an  exception 
in  the  Subtraction  Test. 

It  does  not  seem  likely  that  the  low  results  in  the  Seventh  and' 
Eighth  grades  at  Wayland  are  to  be  explained  on  the  ground  of  inferior 
native  ability  on  the  part  of  the  pupils,  as  the  Intelligence  Tests  show 
these  pupils  to  be  on  practically  the  same  mental  level  with  the  pupils 
in  Coehituate.  The  difference  may  be  due  to  differences  in  the  efficiency 
of  the  teaching,  or  to  differences  in  the  courses  of  study. 

As  the  tests  and  standards  had  been  revised  since  the  previous  test- 
ing, it  is  possible  to  make  only  very  general  comparisons  with  the  work 
in  1921.  It  may  be  said,  how^ever,  that  Coehituate  maintains  its  pre- 
vious high  level  of  work,  while  conditions  at  Wayland  have  improved  in 
that  there  are  now  three  grades  obtaining  medians  above  the  standards 
rather  than  only  two  as  formerly. 

•  A  very  interesting  point  is  brought  out  by  reference  to  the  study  of 
the  results  of  the  Intelligence  Tests,  In  1921  it  was  pointed  out  that 
the  Wayland  Sixth  grade  could  not  be  expected  to  attain  the  standards 
in  any  subject  because  the  Intelligence  Tests  showed  the  mental  level  of 
the  pupils  in  that  grade  to  be  rather  low.  In  the  second  testing,  how- 
ever, it  was  found  that  the  new  Sixth  grade  was  a  decidedly  superior 
one,  and  as  has  been  shown  above,  the  Sixth  grade  medians  were  this 
time  above  the  standards.  This  illustrates  very  well  the  desirability  of 
securing  some  concrete  evidence  on  the  mental  make-up  of  the  pupils 
who  take  subject  matter  tests.  It  shows  the  injustice  of  evaluating  the 
work  of  a  teacher  on  the  actual  accomplishments  of  the  class  after  she 
has  taught  them  without  taking  into  consideration  the  kind  of  material 
she  had  to  work  with. 

2.     The  Reading  Test 

The  scoring  of  this  test  is  so  arranged  that  a  standard  percentage 
distribution  of  scores  is  offered  to  which  the  performance  of  any  grade 
from  the  Second  to  the  Eighth  inclusive  may  be  compared.  This  stand- 
ard distribution  is  shown  in  Table  18a,  together  with  the  percentage 
distribution  of  the  scores  made  in  each  grade  in  the  two  schools.  It  is 
not  to  be  expected  that  small  classes  like  these  will  give  smooth  distribu- 
tions, but  if  a  class  has  average  ability  half  the  cases  or  50  per  cent, 
should  obtain  scores  above  50.     Another  way  of  comparing  these  scores 


46 


A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 


with  the  standards  is  to  examine  the  medians  of  the  several  classes.  The 
method  of  standardization  is  such  that  the  average  class  should  have 
a  median  score  of  50. 


TABLE  18a.     PICTURE  SUPPLEMENT    SILENT  READING  TEST 

Form  2,  May,  1922 

Per  Cent,  of  Pupils  Receiving  Each  Mark 


Cochituate 

Wayland 

Grades 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII  Standard  III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

100 

8 

18 

98 

1— 

92 

7 

1+ 

86 

8 

8 

3 

80 

3 

8 

7 

4 

9 

7 

74 

4. 

6 

7 

6 

9 

8 

68 

8 

6 

6 

19 

13 

26 

8 

25 

27 

8 

7 

62 

4 

13 

9 

19 

10 

25 

17 

9 

13 

56 

4 

19 

9 

6 

15 

11 

17 

9 

8 

8 

20 

50 

20 

3 

33 

12 

8 

17 

44 

13 

25 

12 

6 

7 

11 

17 

18 

38 

25 

13 

15 

13 

15 

10 

17 

46 

8 

9 

13 

32 

4 

19 

12 

13 

8 

7 

8 

8 

9 

8 

20 

26 

8 

20 

23 

7 

6 

17 

9 

8 

9 

17 

13 

20 

6 

19 

8 

4 

9 

17 

17 

7 

14 

3 

3 

8 

8 

6 

3 

1+ 

2 

1— 

8 

0 

9 

No. 

Cases 

24 

16 

34 

16 

13 

15 

12 

11 

12 

11 

12 

15 

Median 

Score 


50  47  40  53   43   55   50   47  41  62  71   32  43 


According  to  these  methods  of  comparison  all  the  grades  in  Cochit- 
uate except  the  Fifth  and  Seventh  are  up  to  the  standard  in  this  test. 
In  Wayland  the  Third  grade  practically  reaches  the  standard,  and  the 
Fifth  and  Sixth  grades  surpass  the  standards  for  these  grades  by  con- 
siderable margins,  but  the  other  three  grades  fall  much  below.  The 
score  in  the  Seventh  grade  is  an  especially  low  one. 


School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town  47 

There  has  been  a  marked  improvement  in  the  reading  since  the  pre- 
vious testing,  as  shown  by  the  following  comparison  of  median  scores. 

Cochituate  Wayland 

Grade     III    IV     V     VI     VII  VIII  III  IV  V     VI     VII  VIII 

1921  38     56     20     25      26       32  26  32  38     20      20  38 

1922  50    47     40     53      43       55  47  41  62     71       32  43 

In  1921  the  only  grade  median  which  equalled  the  standard  was  that  of 
the  Fourth  grade  at  Cochituate,  while  the  medians  in  the  other  eleven 
grades  were  extremely  low.  In  1922  only  five  of  the  medians  were  below 
the  standard,  and  even  in  these  five  grades  there  has  been  a  marked  im- 
provement. This  change  alone  would  seem  to  justify  the  first  survey 
which  pointed  out  the  deficiency  in  reading  ability. 

3.      The  Penmanship  Test 

In  Table  19a  are  shown  the  medians  of  the  various  grades  in  the 
Speed  of  Writing  test,  together  with  standards  and  the  results  obtained 
in  three  other  Massachusetts  communities.  It  will  be  seen  from  the 
table  that  the  Cochituate  medians  are,  except  in  the  Fourth  grade,  some- 
what higher  than  the  Standards.  They  also  compare  very  favorably 
with  the  results  obtained  in  the  three  systems  listed  in  the  table  for  com- 
parative purposes.  The  Wayland  medians  are  slightly  below  the  stand- 
ards in  grades  II,  V  and  VII,  and  somewhat  above  in  grades  VI  and 
VIII.  The  Fourth  grade  median  in  this  school  is  the  only  one  which  is 
materially  below  the  standard.  In  comparison  with  the  other  three 
school  systems,  Wayland  shows  well  in  grades  V,  VI  and  VIII,  but  falls 
considerably  below  them  in  grades  III,  IV  and  VII. 

TABLE  19a.      SPEED  OF  PENMANSHIP 


May,  1922 

Grade 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

Cochituate 

48 

54 

80 

99 

94 

96 

Wayland 

42 

46 

74 

91 

82 

101 

Standard 

49 

62 

76 

87 

90 

93 

Newton 

55 

59 

73 

85 

94 

102 

Brookline 

76 

87 

90 

FaU  River 

86 

89 

48  A  Comparison  of  the  Intelligence  and  Training  of 

A  comparison  of  the  work  in  the  two  years  is  shown  below. 

Cochituate  Wayland 

Grade     III    IV    V    VI     VII  VIII  III  IV    V    VI    VII   VIII 

1921  60     61     77     85     100  113  48  58     68     63       88      98 

1922  48     54    80     99       94      96  42  46     74     91       82     101 

The  losses  are  slightly  more  numerous  than  the  gains,  although  there  are 
no  large  losses  except  in  the  Third  and  Eighth  grades  at  Cochituate. 
The  Sixth  grade  in  each  school  shows  a  rather  large  gain — 14  letters  per 
minute  at  Cochituate,  and  28  letters  per  minute  at  Wayland.  The  lat- 
ter gain  is  probably  explained  when  we  remember  that  the  Wayland 
Sixth  grade  in  1921  was  shown  to  be  somewhat  inferior  mentally. 

Table  20a  shows  the  results  of  the  Quality  Test  compared  with  the 
standards  and  the  results  from  the  three  school  systems  whose  medians 
were  used  for  comparison  in  the  Speed  Test.  No  median  in  any  grade 
of  either  school  equals  or  exceeds  the  standards  of  the  results  of  the  other 
systems.  In  practically  every  case  the  difference  is  a  large  and  signifi- 
cant one. 

TABLE  20a.      QUALITY  OF  PENMANSHIP 


May,  1922 

Grade 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

Cochituate 

28 

32 

33 

38 

37 

39 

Wayland 

33 

31 

35 

38 

36 

41 

Standard 

36 

39 

44 

46 

47 

49 

Newton 

50 

45 

48 

51 

50 

53 

Brookline 

44 

46 

47 

49 

Fall  River 

44 

47 

Neither  school  has  done  as  well  in  this  test  as  in  1921,  as  may  be 
seen  from  the  comparison  of  the  grade  medians  for  the  two  years  shown 
below. 

Cochituate  Wayland 

Grade     III    IV    V     VI     VII  VIII  III  IV    V    VI     VII  VIII 

1921  39     46    43     45       50  53  32  40     60    48       50      57 

1922  28     32     33     38       37  39  33  31     35     38      36      41 

Many  of  the  losses  are  large,  amounting  to  more  than  a  full  step 
on  the  Ayres  scale,  by  which  they  were  graded. 


School  Children  in  a  Massachusetts  Town  49 

SUMMARY  AND  SUGGESTIONS 

As  the  previous  report  pointed  out,  the  results  of  such  a  survey  as 
this  must  be  used,  in  the  main,  by  the  teachers  and  administrative  offi- 
cers who  are  on  the  ground  and  have  full  knowledge  of  the  local  condi- 
tion. However,  there  are  certain  points  brought  out  in  the  preceding 
pages  which  may  be  commented  upon  by  the  surveyors  before  closing 
this  report. 

In  the  first  place,  it  will  be  noted  that  there  are  still  many  differ- 
ences between  the  performances  of  the  children  of  the  two  schools  in  the 
various  tests.  "When  the  first  report  was  written  it  seemed  possible  to 
explain  these  differences  largely  on  the  basis  of  differences  in  native 
intelligence,  but  the  1922  testing  seems  to  show  that  these  variations 
were  largely  removed  by  the  reorganization  of  the  classes.  It  appears 
that  some  other  reason  must  be  sought  for  the  differences  now  existing. 

Generally  speaking,  it  may  be  said  that  the  work  of  the  Cochituate 
children  is  superior  to  that  which  is  done  at  Wayland,  although  there 
are  exceptions  to  this  general  rule.  The  Cochituate  medians  are  also 
generally  equal  or  superior  to  the  standards  in  the  various  tests,  except 
in  the  Quality  of  Penmanship.  The  arithmetic  scores  are  so  far  above 
the  standards  as  to  indicate  the  possibility  that  some  of  the  time  spent 
on  this  subject  could  be  used  with  greater  profit  in  other  fields. 

The  "Wayland  results  are  an  improvement  over  the  previous  year  in 
arithmetic  and  reading.  The  Sixth  and  Seventh  grades,  however,  are 
still  below  the  standards  in  most  cases. 

Both  schools  made  marked  gains  in  the  Reading  Test.  In  1921  only 
one  grade  median  equalled  the  standard,  while  in  1922  only  five  grades 
fail  to  attain  the  standards,  and  each  of  these  had  made  some  improve- 
ment over  the  previous  performance. 

The  results  of  the  Penmanship  Tests  were  not  as  satisfactory  as 
those  of  1921,  since  there  were  losses  in  both  Speed  and  Quality.  The 
Quality  scores  are  decidedly  too  low,  and  efforts  should  be  made  to  im- 
prove the  handwriting.  This  should  not  be  done  at  the  sacrifice  of 
speed,  as  the  Speed  scores  are  not  too  high. 

There  are  many  exceptions  to  these  general  statements  both  among 
the  grades  and  among  the  individual  pupils.  These  cases  must  be  singled 
out  by  superintendent  and  teacher  for  the  special  attention  which  they 
need. 


APPENDIX 

In  order  that  the  teachers  might  take  full  advantage  of  the  results 
of  the  survey,  tables  like  the  following  were  appended  showing  the  score 
of  the  individual  pupils  in  each  of  the  tests.  A  study  of  such  a  table 
by  the  teacher  enables  her  to  proceed  intelligently  in  her  efforts  with 
individuals  of  her  class. 


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